Watch a Simple Experiment Make Sense of Quantum Mechanics

Quantum mechanics: a branch of physics that is, to many, confusing and misunderstood.
It encompasses and deals with the actions and interactions between energy and
both subatomic particles and atoms.

In other words: how nature operates on an extremely small scale. Quantum mechanics helps us
understand both how life works on Earth and beyond. How everything from light
to the molecules that make up human beings function and interact.

So, can one simple experiment explain quantum mechanics? Perhaps.
Veritasium, on YouTube, has created a video that they think can really show
people what quantum mechanics is.

The video description aptly quotes Richard
Feynman, famed theoretical physicist, in saying, “I think I can safely say
that no one understands quantum mechanics.” While understanding how it
works is perhaps a little more than a single video can take on, the
demonstration at least gives viewers a better idea of what quantum
mechanics is.

The experiment involves placing silicone oil drops onto a vibrating bath.
While the droplets are obviously too big to be considered part of a quantum
system, this strange experiment visualizes pilot wave theory which says that
particles oscillate, producing waves, and this interaction creates the
particle’s motion. This theory tries to explain the weird — and often
contradictory — behaviors of particles. This explanation can be better
understood by watching the silicon drops create waves and interact with them in
the video above. With something as difficult to grasp as quantum mechanics,
it’s often helpful when you can actually see what it is
you’re talking — or theorizing — about.